Author Topic: cell phone for a few months in the uk  (Read 2823 times)

chad

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cell phone for a few months in the uk
« on: October 03, 2014, 08:14:32 AM »
I'm travelling to the uk with my family for a couple of months. What cell phone should we get for use there? We currently do not have cells at all (gasp!) but I'm thinking about getting a phone that's capable of gps navigation. And I'd like it if whatever phone we get could be converted back to a US phone (with a new sim card presumably) once we return. Any recommendations for phone and plan?

Gimesalot

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Re: cell phone for a few months in the uk
« Reply #1 on: October 03, 2014, 12:39:56 PM »
I would research the type of phone needed in the UK.  Make sure your get one that works in the correct bands and frequencies.  Then go on amazon or ebay and find a phone with the required frequencies and your desired features.  When you arrive in the UK get a sim card for a local provider.

From this website: http://www.worldtimezone.com/gsm.html
It looks like you will need a 900/1800 MHz phone

Here are some Android phones that might be what you are looking for: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=unlocked%20sim%20phone#/ref=sr_nr_p_n_feature_keywords_0?rh=n%3A2335752011%2Cn%3A7072561011%2Cn%3A2407749011%2Ck%3Aunlocked+sim+phone%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A9632649011%5Cc9632648011%2Cp_n_feature_keywords_four_browse-bin%3A6787346011&sort=price-asc-rank&keywords=unlocked+sim+phone&ie=UTF8&qid=1412361494&rnid=6787345011

One more thing, don't get the SVP phone because I could never get the GPS to work on it.

Daley

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Re: cell phone for a few months in the uk
« Reply #2 on: October 03, 2014, 01:45:31 PM »
The key on what to look for is going to be a world GSM phone, you'll want GSM 850/900/1800/1900 (and probably UMTS 850/900/1900 3G) band support to ensure you get both US and UK coverage.

Here's a great tool to try and work out what sort of phone would fit you best for your needs: http://www.gsmarena.com/search.php3

Android would probably be the best flavor to work with, and keep in mind that you don't need live data access to do GPS, it's a waste of money and bandwidth. There's offline map options from Google Maps, to Sygic, to Navfree.

As for carrier, unless you plan on making a lot of calls and using a crap-ton of data, I'd recommend looking into Truphone SIM. You'd be able to set both an inbound US and UK number to the same account and phone, get free incoming minutes and texts, and get charged 9¢/minute/text/MB outbound with those rates being good both here in the US and over in the UK. If you figure calling will be minimal but heavy data use is needed, find a nice dual-SIM model phone and pick up the cheapest prepaid SIM card with a data only plan while you're there to couple with the Truphone SIM. That said, don't forget about WiFi access.

chad

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Re: cell phone for a few months in the uk
« Reply #3 on: October 03, 2014, 03:13:18 PM »
You're a genius, Daley! Truphone SIM is just what I wanted. Thank you!